Operation Secret Garden
by LuckiestWitchAtHogwarts
Summary: This is my Secret Santa fic for @amlbfan on Tumblr! It is essentially a rewrite of the episode Gigantitan, but without August as the akuma and the plan actually worked- somewhat! I hope you enjoy! Happy holidays!


"Are all the flowers planted?" Marinette heard Alya mutter into her earpiece. On the other lines she could just hear her friends give their signal.

"Perfect, go Rose!"

"Uh, me?"

Marinette could see Alya roll her eyes in her peripheral vision before replying, "No, the other Rose!"

Rose made a sound of confusion as Juleka chuckled, and pushed her cart forward.

After a few seconds of silence, Juleka's voice crackled in their ears, "The rose has no thorns. Sunflower, you're up."

Marinette giggled softly as Alya grinned. She was so glad Alya roped them into this. Mylene squared her shoulders and, looking both ways, crossed the street to Officer Raincomprix.

"Ah, young miss, I believe you're in my uh, my daughter's class! What can I do for ya?"

"Monsieur, there is an illegally parked car across the street!" Mylene exclaimed, pointing towards the Gorilla's car. Officer Raincomprix looked in the direction she pointed and narrowed his eyes.

"Thank you, mademoiselle, I'll take it from here!" He marched off towards the car, and Mylene spoke into her earpiece. "The sunflower has shone! Tulip, you're up!"

"Marinette, are you excited?" Alya left her microphone off and turned to face her best friend.

"More nervous than anything! What if something goes wrong? Or he actually does have his phone on him? Or-"

"Girl! It's gonna be-"

"The tulip is… uh… I'm in place!"

"Perfect timing, Tulip! Buttercup just finished! I'm going to go hide, Lotus. Head around the corner! But don't make it seem like you were waiting for him! I know you haven't finished that dress design Rose was after!"

The two girls stood up and ran; Alya hid behind one of the pillars and Marinette sat on the steps by the rickshaw, taking out a sketchbook and flipping the pages to a half-drawn dress as Alya told her to. She idly moved her pencil around the page, half-assing strokes as she listened out for Adrien's footsteps, feeling hyper-aware. Slowly, light pitter-patters made their way into her eardrums and she began to feel nervous. What if he wanted to wait for The Nanny to get back? What if he didn't want to go with Marinette? What if-

"Marinette?"

"Ahh!"

Even though she was expecting him, Adrien's voice cutting into her thoughts still managed to spook her. She shot up, almost tripping over and Adrien narrowly dodged her head from breaking his jaw, which _definitely_ would not have pleased his father.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry, Marinette! What are you drawing?"

"Oh, it's a Rose for dress! No, uh, a dress for Rose! I felt a little crowded at home so I came out to get some fresh air! All your posters- uh, your dad's fashions were uh, I see them every day so-"

"Haha, I get it! I wish I could get out of the house so freely like you!" Adrien's gaze moved from Marinette's face to the cars by the kerb, scrunching up slightly in confusion.

"Where's…"

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, it's just, my bodyguard should be here by now…"

Marinette heard a whisper behind her and turned her head a little to see Alya mouthing, "Ask. Him," in her direction. She turned back to face him, counted to three in her head, then stuttered out, "Uh, hey, how about we rickshaw take home together this? Wait, no-"

"Sure, okay! Can I borrow your phone to text my bodyguard? I left mine in the car."

"Oh, sure! It's-" She clicked the button on her phone but the screen did not light up. "It's dead. Sorry, Adrien."

"If we're quick it should be fine! Are you ready?"

"After you!"

Adrien stepped into the rickshaw, holding his hand out to help Marinette in and soon the tall buildings of Paris moved past them as the rickshaw driver began to pedal.

"My house is the big one with a wall and gate around it, across the Seine and near Francis Dupont School, sir," Adrien told the driver with a smile.

They reached the river after a short while when Marinette pointed out, "H-Hey! There's Andre's ice cream cart, you want stop do to- uh, do you want to stop?"

"Uh, sure! It shouldn't take too long, right?"

"Yeah! Stop here please!" At the latter sentence, Marinette turned her direction to the rickshaw driver who smiled and nodded, slowing the rickshaw to a halt. Marinette hopped out of the rickshaw, feeling the warmth of Adrien's hand leave hers and realised with a panic that he never let go.

"Marinette and Adrien, two of my favourites! I'll fix you up, I hope you'll savour it! Mint for his eyes and blueberry for her hair, and topped with cherry for their lips!"

Marinette's face burned bright red as she glanced over at Adrien, who was just as red.

"Uh-"

_CRASH. SCREAMING. MORE CRASHES. _

Adrien and Marinette turned to the direction they came from and to their horror, buildings were toppling over, sending dust into the air. A large, blue, gorilla-like being was standing on all fours behind it, growling and stomping through the streets.

"Is that-"

"It's my bodyguard!"

Adrien shoved the ice cream back into Andre's hands, grabbed one of Marinette's and ran back across the bridge.

"Ah-h-h! Adrien, what are you doing?!"

"We need to go!"

"Yeah, let's hide, but not _towards_ the akuma!"

"I think he's akumatized because of me... I need to show him I'm all right."

"Adrien, listen to me."

He finally stopped struggling against Marinette's grip and turned to face her.

"Let Ladybug and Cat Noir handle this. I don't want you to get hurt trying to handle this, your fault or not! Okay?"

His eyes softened, "Alright."

They both turned, still hand in hand, and ran for the other end of the bridge. Alix skated past them, leaving a small trail of flower petals behind as she shot off and turned left at the end of the bridge.

After running for a few minutes, they ended up in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Marinette ripped open the door and shoved Adrien inside.

"Stay here, I'll hide somewhere else! He won't suspect you hiding here!"

"What about you?"

"He doesn't know me, Adrien! I'll hide out at Alya's!"

"Okay, stay safe!"

Marinette ran a block before hiding in an alleyway, letting Tikki out of her bag when she was hidden.

"Marinette, you really should have thought this plan through!"

"This wasn't my plan, it was Alya's!"

"But you agreed to it! And you've seen how protective that man is of Adrien!"

"I know Tikki, I've learnt my lesson. Now, spots on!"

A shimmer of red light washed over her but Marinette barely gave a thought to the magic as she threw her yo-yo and flew away.

Swinging over the rooftops back towards the bridge, Ladybug found Cat Noir already running, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Cat Noir! Have you heard anything about the akuma?"

"Nope, what about you?"

"I heard on the bridge that it's Adrien Agreste's bodyguard!"

"You were on the bridge?"

"Uhhh," Ladybug cringed internally. She couldn't give away where she was without raising suspicion about her identity. "N-No, Andre the Ice-cream Man told me when he saw me at the start of the bridge!"

"Oh, okay! So what might the akuma be?"

They were now in the air, flipping towards a rooftop and bounding over it, closing in on the buildings that had been knocked down. The Gorilla was further down the street and had not yet noticed them. Ladybug squinted her eyes and looked carefully at him.

"I can't see anything obvious... maybe in his pockets?"

"Do you reckon we could get close enough for that?"

"We're gonna have to trap him. _Lucky Charm_!"

She threw her yo-yo, which transformed into a cell phone, and she sighed.

"Who am I supposed to call? What does this me-"

Ladybug paused and glanced over at the Gorilla, then Cat Noir. Her Ladybug vision lit up on their beings.

"Apparently, the magic is telling me to call him. Well, that's the akumatized object out of the way!"

Cat Noir frowned. "How are we supposed to call him? How do we get the phone from him?"

"You need to run over there when I say so and grab it from his hand as he takes it out. Ready?"

He nodded and turned towards the Gorilla.

Ladybug pressed a button on the polka-dotted phone. It began to ring, and the Gorilla's phone rang loudly in his pocket. He paused and began to reach for his phone.

"Now!"

Cat Noir pushed off and ran towards the Gorilla, leaping through the air and grabbing the phone from his fists just as he lifted it to his ear. Once safely on the other rooftop, he broke the phone and the akuma flew out of it.

"No more evil-doing for you, akuma. _Time to de-evilize!_"

Her yo-yo swung out and grabbed the butterfly, purifying it.

"_Gotcha! Bye bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!"_

She threw the spotted phone into the air, spreading the magic of Creation around Paris and restoring the fallen buildings. Ladybug swung down to the ground near the restored Gorilla as Cat Noir descended on his staff.

"Sir, are you okay? Did you lose someone?"

He merely grunted, and showed a picture of Adrien on his phone.

"Oh, I've seen him! He was heading back to the mansion near Francis Dupont School with a friend! If you head back now he should be there soon," Ladybug replied with a smile. "Don't worry, we won't tell your boss!"

The Gorilla grunted again, the hint of a smile on his gruff face as he entered his car nearby and left.

"So, pound it?"

"Pound it. Lovely working with you again, Bugaboo!"

Ladybug smiled before turning and leaping back towards the bridge again. She swung over the rooftops and landed in the alleyway near her house. De-transforming, she opened her bag for Tikki before she ran back to the bakery, colliding hard with Adrien as he opened the door to leave.

"Ow!" "Oof!" They proclaimed at the same time, cradling their heads briefly.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" "Sorry, Adrien!" They spoke again simultaneously then giggled, breaking down into laughter.

"Only I'm this clumsy, I must be rubbing off on you! Anyways, did you stay safe in the bakery?"

"Yeah, and Alya's was safe too, right?"

"A-Aly- Yes! Yes, I was there, safe! Safe, yep."

"It's too bad our ride home got cut short with the akuma. I guess I should head back home now so he isn't angry again."

"Can I walk you home?"

Adrien smiled softly, replying with, "Sure."

The short walk from the bakery to the mansion was quiet and Marinette glanced over at Adrien a few times with a blush grazed along her cheeks. Arriving at the Agreste mansion came far too soon, in her opinion.

"Y'know, despite hiding from the akuma, I had a good time with you, Marinette. Let's do it again sometime!"

"Y-Yeah, sounds like good plan! A good plan! Haha, you're good, uh, a good friend! Yeah…"

"Yeah… I'll see you at school?"

"See you then, Adrien!"

Marinette watched as he approached the mailbox, spoke to the camera that popped out and soon enough he was through the gate. He stopped to wave back at her before heading inside. Marinette waved back then headed around the corner and squeaked, sliding down the wall.

"Tikki, did you hear that? We're gonna hang out again!"

"I'm so happy for you, Marinette! You should tell the girls!

"Y-You're right!"

Running back to the bakery, she sent a group text to the girls.

"Operation Secret Garden was a success!"


End file.
